Skipping Stones
by SayThis5TimesFast
Summary: A romance story about a younger Will and Alyss. Will is embarrased in front of his fellow Wardmates, leaving Alyss to comfort him. I apologize for the awful summary.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first Ranger's Apprentice fanfiction... My second fanfiction actually... Anyways (just a little of an insight) this is overall a romance between Will and Alyss, that takes place when they were still pretty young (there is no set date but I say anywhere between 9 and 13.)**

**Just a reminder; none of the characters, settings or anything else in this story belongs to me, they belong to the talented author John Flanagan (I hope I spelled that right.) Heck, as far as I care he can take credit for the whole story... Please enjoy! (^_^)b**

"I'm so impressed," Will muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"What was that Will?" Horace inquired. "Oh nothing, Will replied, just pointing out the fallacious technique you're using." "Why thank-you Will, though I must point out the way you talk... Well, have you eaten any dictionaries lately?" Will laughed; Firstly, the look on Horace's face told Will that he actually thought eating a dictionary would improve your vocabulary, secondly fallacious was a synonym for awful. "Horus wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, just the biggest," Will thought to himself.

Will, Horace, Alyss, Jenny and George were at a creek not far from Castle Redmont. They were having a contest to see who could skip a stone the farthest. "What I want to know, exclaimed Jenny, is how did you even skip a stone that large?" "Well it's all in the wrist," Will heard before he tuned out everything around him.

He had spotted a stone roughly the size of a pumpkin and was planning on skipping it across the lake. "I'll show them, he said to himself, they'll be worshipping me soon enough." He trailed off into a daydream, involving him succeeding in skipping the stone, and Alyss running into his arms won over by his grace and strength. He slipped his hands around the stone and pulled.

Nothing happened; he tried again and fell back into a tree. Will let out a cry of pain! Hearing this, his fellow Wardmates turned around. First to react, Horace walked over to Will. For a second Will thought that Horace was coming to help him up, but instead he picked up the stone in one hand. He then proceeded to throw it, not skip. It ended up landing on the other side of the creek.

"Wow," exclaimed George. "Yeah, how'd you do that," Jenny picked up. "More like how couldn't Will do that," answered Horace.

Horace was answered by a torrent of laughter. Will felt as if it was piercing through him, building up a wall of pain. He ran, not bothering to look behind. He didn't realize; not everyone was laughing.

Will ran. He didn't stop until he reached his haven. It was a tree in front of castle Redmont. "I don't want to give them the pleasure, he whispered, I don't to give them the pleasure, that's all."

Will felt crushed, he always tried to tell himself that he was tough as stone; unbreakable. In reality he knew he was quite the opposite, weak and brittle. Though, even alone he wouldn't give in to the tears...

**So there's the first chapter... Hope you enjoyed... Expect more soon because my computer kind of broke and... Well now I'm quite ahead of myself. By the way, I'll try to make the chapters longer because I like to type these up on my IPod and, well they look a lot longer there... **

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	2. Chapter 2

**After much too long a wait I present to you... THE SECOND CHAPTER! (Cue the fireworks.)Anyways, quick shout-out to ****Ranger Girl 81, who reminded me that I needed to update this story, she sounds awesome (anyone who says they seem like me obviously is.) Okay that's a lie (I'm an awful person, but I highly doubt that she is.) Anyways, I don't own any characters, settings, etc. They belong to John Flannagan, and without further ado I present to you chapter 2. (Hey... That rhymed...) **

Will, waited up in the tree for what seemed like ages, though it was in reality only an hour. It was almost nightfall when the others got back giggling and talking about the events that just took place. It appeared that Alyss was soaked and judging from the look on her face in a bitter mood.

As the others retreated inside she sat down legs crossed hoping to dry up in the last rays of sun, for the day. Will took a moment to overlook her; she was beautiful; perfect."But..." He thought to himself, "she's even more beautiful, once you get to know her."

Will, was so caught up in his thoughts he forgot everything, including the fact that he was up a tree...

Will fell from the tree. Though for anyone watching it seemed more like he was jumping. He acted as if he planned it not screaming, not even scared; that is until he hit the ground.

Alyss screamed, and rushed toward him. "Are you okay," she asked. Not waiting for an answer she helped him up."I'm g-o-o-o-d," he managed before he fell again.

When Will opened his eyes he saw Alyss' face above his. She was cradling his head, in her lap, Will felt like nothing else mattered, nothing but her.

"I was afraid, Will, you'd think you'd know better. Especially considering all the time you spend up that tree." Will unable to answer just looked up and nodded.

"Why'd you run off like that Will," asked Alyss."Well... I just figured that I was-" Will stopped once he noticed the look on Alyss' face. "Okay, Will said with a crestfallen look on his face, I was embarrassed." At this Will took his head from Alyss' lap and sat down next to her.

Will was expecting her to try to console him. Instead... "Why? Alyss basically screamed at him, it's not like you did anything wrong!" Will tried to scream but it came out more like a squeak, "They were laughing at me... You were laughing at me." "No I wasn't," whispered Alyss. Then in a slightly louder voice, "I would never do anything to hurt you." "Please, she finished as she stood up and offered Will her hand, come with me."

**Okay... That was chapter 2. I'll try to start updating this more often. I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter, but school started and I completely forgot about everything... Anyways hope you enjoyed, if you did please leave a review, and if you didn't GTFO! Just joking, if you didn't like it, please leave a review; constructive criticism is the best! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you guys so much for all the nice reviews! I'm still so new to fanfiction, and so far I haven't really gotten any bad reviews in all (two) of my stories. Oh and thank-you, thank-you so much for putting up with all the waiting... (I need to get on a schedule.) So here it is... the next chapter! **

**(Hope you enjoy!)**

**Oh and I'm really sorry about the wait this time, but at least I have an excuse... I won't go into detail so let's leave it at Microsoft Word wasn't working. Now, without further ado, I present the final chapter of a story that was supposed to be a lot longer!**

"Where are you taking me?" Will said, trying to hide his anger.

"Just wait," replied Alyss, trying to hide her annoyance.

"Fine," Will said his voice rising in annoyance.

"Here we are," said Alyss gesturing her hands to emphasise the point.

"This is it," Will half-screamed failing to keep his anger back, "were we not here earlier today," (for this was nothing other than the creek where the ward-mates were skipping stones not too long ago.) "Have I not made enough of a fool of myself today?" "I'm going back," Will said turning around, hanging his head and kicking a pebble out of his path.

Now at this point you may be inclined to think that Will was being rather rude (and not just to anyone but to the girl he loves) but you must give him credit. He has been made a mockery of, fallen out of a tree and just failed to make the moment with the girl he loved intimate. This all came together to make him really... really... frustrated!

"Will, wait!" Alyss yelled putting enough anger into her voice to make him stop. "Look at that," Alyss said pointing to the very same rock Horus had thrown across the creek earlier that day. "I bet now that Horus has up-rooted it (in a sense) you could pick it up," Alyss said in a voice that could convince any boy to do anything (all while batting her eyelashes.)

Well, I guess I could give it a shot," Will replied, all anger having disappeared from his tone. As soon as he finished this sentence, Will jumped on to a rock near the shore of the creek. From there, Will jumped to the next (in the line of rocks stretching from one side of the creek to the other [with a fair amount of distance between each one.]) Will continued, rock to rock until he reached the side of the creek with the rock on its shore.

Will put a hand on both sides of the rock and waited a second before he began to pull. He pulled and pulled, but the rock moved not one inch off from the ground. It took a few tries before Will realised that no matter how hard he tried he'd never accomplish what he was attempting. Will moved away from the rock and hung his head in shame and aimlessly headed in the opposite direction from Alyss (not heading anywhere just trying to hide from his problems.)

"Will? Where are you going?"

"Nowhere," Will muttered (a mutter that Alyss just barely made out.)

"Will, can I ask you something?" Alyss asked, "How exactly did you make it to that side of the creek?"

Will made out a hint of awe in her voice and turned around. "Well, I... well... I just kind of did." Will then scratched the back of his neck trying to think, "I guess it's just second nature to me?"

Silence... then... Alyss jumped to the rock closest to the shore following in Will's actions. She then jumped (or rather attempted to) to the next rock. She made it but she was clearly off balance. Will obviously noticed this too and quick as an arrow jumped back from rock to rock and caught her before she fell into the creek...

They just stood there, staring into each other's eyes.

"Sorry," Will muttered realising he was still holding her above the water. Upon realising this he decided to help her onto her own feet. He then allowed her to make her way back to the creek bed, before he himself began to follow.

"See Will, you might not of been able to throw that rock around, but I'll be damned if Horace is able to make it across this creek as fast as you." "In fact I doubt that he'd even be able to jump from the creek's bed to the first rock." "Not to mention climbing trees."

"You're right!" said Will realising the truth of her words.

"That's what I came here to show you," said Alyss, "we all have different skills, and although I can't put a word to yours, it is an amazing gift indeed."

Will and Alyss were on their way back to Castle Redmont still talking about the events that just took place when...

"Say," said Will, "if my gift is... Well you know. What is your gift?"

"I don't know, I guess I still have to find it," replied Alyss.

"Well I guess Horace's is strength (or rather brute-force) but what about Jenny and George?" inquired Will.

"Well Jenny's would be preparing food-

"Yes a good talent indeed!"

-and George's would be the knowledge of things nobody but George would know (nor would want to know.")

At this the two began to chuckle.

After the laughter died down Will said, "You know... maybe your gift is finding other people's gift."

"Yes, and maybe the reason we can't seem to decide on a name for your gift is because you have too many gifts to name."

At this everything went quiet, not in an awkward way but the way that things go quiet when two friends decide not to talk but rather, just to enjoy one another's company.

By now Castle Redmont was in full view and Alyss bid Will goodbye so she may hurry off on her own. Will struggled to hide his disappointment, until Alyss planted a kiss on his cheek right before hurrying off. Will decided that being alone for a bit wasn't half bad.

He went on at a slow pace thinking about what just happened, stopping to stare at the stars every once in a while (for by now it was night time.) He knew he was going to be chastised once he reached the castle, but that wouldn't spoil his mood.

He was at the castle's gate once he decided that this was the best day of his life... so far.

**I just want to thank you guys one last time for reading, I love writing, and although I must say I prefer writing my own stories from scratch, fanfiction is a pretty cool way to get my stories to the world... good for me bad for you. Now give yourself a hug because you're awesome, and whenever I ask for a hug I'm refused... on that happy note... goodbye!**


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